Ghostbusters: The Computer Game (David Crane)
Ghostbusters is a licensed game by Activision based on the movie of the same name. It was designed by David Crane, produced by Brad Fregger, and released for several home computer platforms in 1984, and later for video game console systems. This has nothing to do with Sega's version released in 1990. The game was made in such a short time by incorporating portions of a game already in production called "Car Wars". Systems Most versions of this game had a similar basic format as the initial Commodore 64 game, which was completed in eight months. The game was re-issued on many computer formats by Mastertronic. *Commodore 64 (Floppy Disk) **Commodore 64 (Cassette) By Activision UK **Commodore 64 (Cartridge) By Pty Ltd For Australia **Commodore 64/128 (Cassette) reissued by Mastertronic *Spectrum **reissued by Mastertronic *Atari 800 **reissued by Mastertronic *Amstrad CPC **reissued by Mastertronic *MSX *Atari 2600 *Sega Master System *NES Characters *Standard Ghostbusters - Two on routine ghost hunt, and three going up the building. *Roamers - Generic ghosts that migrated to the temple of Zuul. Their successful migration elevated the PK energy meter. They would periodically merge to form a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. They can be sucked up when in driving mode. They take over the role of the Slimers in the NES version and are at the buildings. Also, the NES version has them as a threat going up the stairs. In the Master System version has them, they are used as well as the slimers at the buildings. They appear in two forms on the stairs as flyers, and as tosses of dishes. *Slimers - The player in all but the NES version can catch these for money at the buildings. In the Mster System version they are also pests on the stairs in both round flying blob form and as a fast lean flying form. *Louis possessed by Vinz Clortho/Keymaster/Master of the Key - Appearing as a key in the computer versions and as a small guy with white shirt and black pants in the master system version, he wonders the map screen until the PK Energy level reaches 9999 or red for which he and the Gatekeeper meet up at the Zuul/Zule building. *Dana possessed by Zuul/Gatekeeper - Appearing as a key-lock in the computer versions and as a small gal with a pink dress in the master system version, she wonders the map screen until the PK Energy level reaches 9999 or red for which he and the Keymaster meet up at the Zuul/Zule building. *Stay Puft Marshmallow Man - In all versions the player needs to avoid being stepped on by the Marshmallow Man while trying to get in the building. In the NES version he is coming up the building and can be seen if the player moves low enough in the Temple of Zule area. *Terror dogs (Zuul and Vinz Clortho) - They appear at the top of the Zuul building as you defeat Gozer in the computer versions. They shoot energy balls in the NES and Master System versions. *Ghastly Henchmen Ghost (White Ghosts) - Only appearing in the Gozer final battle in the NES version, they spawn from Gozer and shoot energy balls and attack the player. They also attack if you are at the lower half of the screen dealing with Marshmallow Man. *Gozer/Gozar - The boss on the rooftop, who fires energy waves in the NES version. Also appears in the Master System version shooting lightening bolts from hands. Locations/Screens Note that the letters means the scene/location is in the following games: '(B)=Base Computer versions, '''(A)=Atari 2600, (N)=NES, (M)=Master System. '' *'(All)' City Map Scene **'(All)' Road Scene ***'(All)' (Haunted) Building Scene **'(B)(N)(M)' Shop Scene **'(All)' GHQ/GBHQ (Ghostbusters Headquarters) **'(N)' GS Gas Station **'(All)' Zuul/Zule Building ***'(All)' Entrance to Zuul/Zule Building ****'(N)(M)' Stairway Scene *****'(N)(M)' Final Scene (Temple of Zuul/Zule) Trivia *The NES and Sega Master System versions of the game ended with a boss battle against Gozer. *The Commodore 64 version was one of the few C64 games to feature digitized speech, though this was limited to short clips such as "Ghostbusters", "He slimed me!" and an evil laugh. *The ending of the NES version appears in Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) on a computer in Egon's Lab Area. *On page three of Ghostbusters Issue #10, the game makes a non-canon cameo on the hanging TV screen in Ecto-2 set to the city view. In the next panel, the infamous ending text is shown. *On page 10 of Ghostbusters Issue #14, the Ectomobile outfitting section makes a cameo on the screen of the Ethereal Solidifier. *On page 2, panel 3 of Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #3, on the red monitor screen is a grab of the city map. *On page 11, panel 1, of Ghostbusters Annual 2015, on the computer left of Ray is the ending to the game. *On page 13, panel 4, of Annual 2015, on the computer is the game over message. *On page 19 panel 4, of Ghostbusters International #4, a still of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the game makes a non-canon cameo on the computer screen. *On page 20 of Ghostbusters International #11, in panel 2, on the computer screen is a still from the Ghostbusters Activision game. It appears on the back of the game's box next to "One Temple of Zuul. Two Terror Dogs. And a zillion ghosts." *On page 3 of Ghostbusters 101 #5, panel 4, on the far right, on the computer screen is the infamous bad grammar ending to the video game. *On page 12 of Ghostbusters 101 #6, in panel 4, on the left of the trap are two panels that have screens from the Activision video game - the title screen and the red Ecto-1 screen. *On page 11 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1, in panel 1, on the cork board is the Amstrad/Schneider "Richochet" EU cover for Ghostbusters Activision. *On page 20 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1, in panel 3, the ghost sprites on the screen are from the city map in Ghostbusters Activision. *On Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #3, left of Spectral Eduardo Rivera is the city map from the Activision Ghostbusters game. External Links *David Crane on the Computer Chronicles episode "Games" talking about and demonstrating his then-new Ghostbusters computer game (January 21, 1985) (KCSM TV, San Mateo, California) (full episode) See also *Other Ghostbusters Video Games Gallery Promo/Box Artwork/Packaging gb1_computer_game_preview_ad.jpg|Preview Ad gb1_computer_game_ad01.jpg|Ad from Commodore PowerPlay mag Dec-Jan 1984-1985 gb1_amstrad_cpc_eur_front.jpg|Amstrad/Schneider (EU) - Front gb1_amstrad_cpc_eur_back.jpg|Amstrad/Schneider (EU) - Back gb1_amstrad_media.png|Amstrad/Schneider (EU) - Media gb1_amstrad_ricochet_front.jpg|Amstrad/Schneider "Ricochet" (EU) - Front gb1_amstrad_ricochet_back.jpg|Amstrad/Schneider "Ricochet" (EU) - Back gb1_atari2600_front.jpg|Atari 2600 (US) - Front GhostbustersvideogameAtari2600cover.png| gb1_atari2600_back.jpg|Atari 2600 (US) - Back GhostbustersvideogameAtari2600back.png| GhostbustersActivisionAtari2600Cartridge.png|Atari 2600 (US) - Cartridge GhostbustersvideogameAtari2600Instructions.png|Atari 2600 (US) - Page 1 Instructions gb1_c64_us_front.jpg|Commodore 64 (US) - Front gb1_c64_us_back.jpg|Commodore 64 (US) - Back gb1_c64_eur_front.jpg|Commodore 64 (EU) - Front gb1_c64_eur_back.jpg|Commodore 64 (EU) - Back gb1_c64_ricochet_front.jpg|Commodore 64 "Ricochet" (EU) - Front gb1_c64_ricochet_back.jpg|Commodore 64 "Ricochet" (EU) - Back gb1_c64_australia_front.jpg|Commodore 64 (AU) - Front gb1_c64_australia_back.jpg|Commodore 64 (AU) - Back gb1_nes_front.jpg|NES (US) - Front gb1_nes_back.jpg|NES (US) - Back gb1_pc_front.jpg|PC (US) - Front gb1_pc_back.jpg|PC (US) - Back gb1_sms_front.jpg|Sega Master System (US) - Front gb1_sms_back.jpg|Sega Master System (US) - Back gb1_spec_us_front.jpg|Spectrum (US) - Front gb1_spec_us_cassette.png|Spectrum (US) - Media gb1_spec_ricochet_front.jpg|Spectrum "Ricochet" (EU) - Front gb1_spec_ricochet_back.jpg|Spectrum "Ricochet" (EU) - Back In game GBA260001.png|Atari 2600 (US) - The map screen at start of the game. GBA260002.png|Atari 2600 (US) - The store. GBA260003.png|Atari 2600 (US) - Driving the Ecto-1. GBA260004.png|Atari 2600 (US) - Catching and wrangling the ghost. GBA260005.png|Atari 2600 (US) - Trapping the ghost. GBA260006.png|Atari 2600 (US) - Stay-Puft destroying the city. References Actavisionsoldending_.png|Winston losing by winning ActivisionGameIDW10.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters Issue #10 ActivisionGameIDW10-2.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters Issue #10 GhostbustersActivitionFanClubGetRealIssue3.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #3 GhostbustersActivisionAnnual2015-1.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters Annual 2015 GhostbustersActivisionAnnual2015.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Annual 2015 GhostbustersActivisionIDWVol3Issue4.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters International #4 JennyMoran40.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters International #11 GarrettParker12.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters 101 #5 GBActivisionIDW101Issue6.jpg|Non-Canon Reference seen in Ghostbusters 101 #6 Activision84NewGB2TMNTGB2Issue1.jpg|Non-Canon Reference in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1 Activision84NewGB2TMNTGB2Issue1-2.jpg|Non-Canon Reference in TMNT/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1 GBVideoGameIDWCrossingOverIssue3CoverB.jpg|Non-Canon Reference seen on Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #3 Cover B Category:Video Games Category:Ghostbusters: The Computer Game (David Crane)